Hey guys. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm BMarie, and am an 18 year old girl. I have had moderate acne for six years on my face, back, and chest, and in the past couple of months has turned severe. I had a lot of changes in my life (diet changed, not as much exercise, starting school, PMSing, good friend very sick in the hospital). Needless to say, it was very stressful and my face exploded.I've been going to the dermatologist since August of 2011 to get rid of my acne. I've tried multiple creams (like Retin-A), cleansers (including the Oil Cleansing Method which I liked but didn't help), and antibiotics. The antibiotics worked well until I got off of them, and then my acne came back again. My derm and I have decided it's time for Accutane. I've taken my first pregnancy test and am just waiting for my second one to start my treatment, which is hopefully in about two weeks. I'm planning on posting pictures too, I just don't know how to yet. Haha

My acne is so bad lately it is ridiculous. I've been getting zits on my face, back, chest, neck, scalp (especially by my hairline), stomach, arms (below the elbow), and even one or two on my leg. I've never had them on my stomach, arms, or legs before. What in the world?
The zits on my face are deep, dark red, and itchy/painful. All the others are normal whiteheads. Here's a pic of my cheek a few weeks ago when I was so stressed. At that time they were all actives, and now they are scars (but I have more). I need to take new pictures now as "before" pics.
Anyone know a better way to post pictures? I am new to this...https://sphotos-b.xx...965390039_n.jpg

I feel you about acne going from moderate to severe, that happened for me when I was 16, a little over a year ago. Accutane should treat you well; there are lots of complete logs of people with similar skin who had a lot of success with it. Hopefully, by taking Accutane, you'll be able to mitigate scarring as well, which is one of the reasons I began taking it.

For pictures, you can upload them directly from your computer by pressing "Choose Files" and selecting them. There's an icon of a tree above the post area, too; you can put already uploaded pics directly in your post with that function.

P.S. You should probably repost this log in the Accutane logs subforum.

Well, I am taking 40 mg a day of Amnesteem. Today is my third day, and sheesh! It was so difficult to get the medicine! I had to go to the pharmacy 4 times on Wednesday. my derm said they would call in the prescription on Tuesday afternoon, so I went in Wednesday morning to pick it up. They hadn't checked their answering machine yet, but they said come back in an hour. I did, but they still hadn't gotten to because they were so busy. I waited while they checked, but it turned out there wasn't a message from my derm for whatever reason so I had to call my derm. They said they would check on everything and call it in again. I went to the pharmacy for the third time and now my insurance didn't want to pay for it, so my mom had to call my derm and insurance company. Finally, on the fourth trip to the super busy store (the day before thanksgiving) I was able to get it for only $10.

Members can't move posts on their own - mods have to do that. If you click the "report" button on the first post of your thread, you can explain that you'd like it moved in the message box before you send out the report. Are you trying to make this into a log? (Topically it seems to be in the right place.)

"I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Long after we are gone .. our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains."- Gkar, Objects in Motion

"I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos. The sky calls to us, if we do not destroy ourselves." - Carl Sagan

Day 5! Woohoo! At this point I really wish I never read any of the possible bad side affects because every little ache and pain I have makes me think it is a reaction to the Accutane e even though it's not. Oh well.
I did wake up yesterday morning to dry skin. My face is starting to peel around my lips, but I have always been prone to peeling and dry skin there. My arms and legs are starting to dry out as well, but a little bit of lotion fixes everything up.

Day 10. I finished my first pack!! I had to set an alarm on my phone though so I can remember to take my pill every night.

Let's see. So far my face is starting to dry out. I definitely have to use moisturizer every time I wash my face because it's so dry. It's also peeling a tiny bit around my nose. My lips were pretty dry one day, but they're fine now. My scalp is really itchy and flaky though. I have always struggled with dandruff because of the hard water at my house (it went away this summer while I worked at camp. They had soft water). The dandruff is definitely getting worse. Any suggestions for shampoos?
Other than that, nothing new to report. I have a few new whiteheads, but no new cysts which is good. The ones I do have are currently in the dried out flaking stage. I still wake up almost every morning with fresh blood on my pillow. :/

The products I am currently using are Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser (I want to try CeraVe though), and CeraVe's facial moisturizing lotion for AM. I want to get the PM one as well because I don't need spf at night, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm also using whatever chapsticks I have laying around for now, which means Blistex Fruit Smoothies.

Good luck with it I've been on Roaccutane for 5 weeks and it's going well so far. I started on 20mg per day for 4 weeks and i'm now on 40mg per day. Not sure how long i'll be on 40mg as i'm guessing they will be wanting to up my dosage on my next visit.

I like you read in to the side effects and did get some pains etc but I just try to keep positive about it, it's not easy when there is a lot of bad press, I just try to remember there is also positive press too.

My skin hasn't been too dry yet, but the weather has been very warm up until today (80s). Today it has been cold and my skin is dry, but I am always dry when it's cold. My lips are fine, but I apply chapstick religiously and always have. I do have a patch on each cheek that is scaly and no matter how much moisturizer I use it won't change. I even tried Aquaphor on it because I use it on my hands when they get really bad, but it didn't help. Any suggestions?

My hair is starting to dry out, which is nice. I was experiencing a really dry, flaky, itchy scalp fr a few days so I decided to invest in coconut oil which supposedly works wonders. I left it in over night and woke up at 5 am scratching. By 5:45 I decided to wash my hair because I was so miserable, went back to sleep, and woke up to a sore scalp. I need to try again because now I have a lot of oil to use up. Anyways, after that I was shedding a lot but I think it was because I used oil, shampooed twice, and conditioned all in one morning.

As for my acne, no improvement yet. I am still getting new zits every day, which seem to pop up in an hour but won't leave.

I have had a back ache every day since starting. It's my lower back, and I mainly notice when I first lay down... not fun, but not unbearable either. I also get a mild headache if I don't drink enough water throughout the day.

Yeah, I'm planning on this being my log...so does it need to be moved?

I'll move it to the Accutane logs forum.

As for adding pictures, in addition to what nbkyrww said (using the green "Image" button), you can also create a gallery, post all your pictures there. You can then easily reuse them in your posts by using the "My Media" button.

Good luck on your course!

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them they didn’t understand life.” - John Lennon

Hey bmarie, I really wish you the best of luck on your course. I suffered from a horrendous breakout due to giving birth and the stress that comes along from a new baby ( and dealing with everything they don't tell you about what happens to your body after birth, horrific rashes and I thought I was falling apart) that I developed severe nodular cystic acne and every derm I visited said accutane was really my only choice. I know what it's like to want to feel normal again, I just want to take pictures with my baby and not feel like a monster. We will get through this, I'm on day 21 20mgs (too low!) and nothing bad so far. Was able to peel off my entire bottom lip today hah. We will get through this!

And this is my scaly spot on my cheek. Not sure what to do about it. No matter how much moisturizer I put on it, it doesn't change at all. Any suggestions?

I would call your derm and ask about this. It looks like it could be a reaction to accutane like the above poster said. Maybe ask if you can email him or her a photo and see if that is normal or if there is something they can give you for it. It looks painful.